a girl and her knitting (and spinning)

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Hello hello. I’ve been pretty quiet here; some job-related stuff has been taking up a lot of my thoughts lately. I’ve briefly mentioned it before, I think, but the school where I work as librarian is being “phased out” (a polite way of saying closed down) and my future for the next couple years, work-wise, is up in the air. I was an over-achieving kid, and my life trajectory has basically been very clear: graduate from an excellent magnet high school to an honors program in college to a highly-ranked graduate school to a full-time position opening a new library in an urban school with an at-risk population. I say this not to toot my own horn but to show what a straight-and-narrow nerd I’ve always been. There’s been a set path and a clear goal ahead of me, and now…I have zero clue what’s coming down the pike. Potentially exciting! But also crazy scary! If I’m not doing the library thing in my own little comfortable school library, what will I be doing?

(new books I recently added to my library collection)

In my daydreams, I decide I’ll take a belated gap year and wander around Europe. Is 30 too old to qualify for the “youth” part of staying in a youth hostel?

The way I’ve been coping with all this career madness is by playing with pretty colored wool. : ) This is Falkland wool from Nest Fiber Studio in the Chanteuse colorway, and I’m spinning it on my Overland Morning Street wheel. I used a technique called fractal spinning (here’s a clear explanation from Knitty, written by Alex Tinsley; the original concept was first written up in Spin-Off magazine by Janel Laidman) where you split the braid into two equal halves. Spin one half as a big chunk with long color stretches, then split the second half into strips and spin those strips, and spin together as a 2-ply. The idea is to get a balanced distribution of colors in your finished project, with some subtle striping.

I’m starting the plying process tonight, so we’ll see how it goes!

I’ve also been making good progress on my Solstice Cardigan, although I lost some steam now that I’m on to the sleeves. What it is about sleeves? I can knit an entire body in two weeks, then take eight months to finish the sleeves.

The other pleasant distraction apart from spinning and knitting is that the first little signs of spring have started to appear!

Sorry for those of you in more northerly climes, but I just have to show off the first daffodils of the year! If it’s any consolation, we’re getting freezing rain all night here. But it’s great to smell that spring-is-coming scent on the air, isn’t it?

I hope you’re having a good week, full of whatever pleasant distractions you enjoy most. : )